IT was a case of being in the right place at the right time for Ruth Porter a couple of weeks ago when she was judging at a Showjumping Ireland-registered show in Connell Hill Equestrian Centre in Randalstown, Co Antrim and a man took ill.

A cardiac rehab nurse for the Southern Trust in Northern Ireland, Ruth noticed the commotion when a man, who had been watching the jumping while sitting on his horse outside of the ring, suddenly slumped over and fell off.

Ruth quickly assessed the man and when finding no pulse, immediately began to carry out CPR for 15 minutes until an ambulance and an air ambulance arrived, by which time she had brought him back to consciousness.

“It was my first time judging there,” said Ruth, who believes she was there for a reason. “The air ambulance doctor did say that if the nurse wasn’t there it could have been a different outcome. I believe he’s doing well, he has had stents put in and an implanted defibrillator.”

A regular judge in the northern region, Ruth, who hails from Gilford in Co Down, has always had an interest in both show jumping and eventing and owns the event horse horse Shannador who was competed by Neil Morrison for the last number of seasons.

With a busy schedule, having been in Cavan last weekend and judging at the RDS qualifier next week, she said: “I am near the age of retirement so I felt I would go and do a bit of judging in retirement and maybe also give back to the equestrian community.”